We had nothing to do with removal of vendors – New owners

LAWYER, Kay Bacchus-Baptiste who is representing some of the vendors whose structures were destroyed by police this week, said the Physical Planning Department has breached the Town and Country Planning Act and should be sued for conversion and detinue.

The lawyer also implied that new management of the building which houses the Massy supermarket may have played a role in having the vendors removed. But Goddard Darcheville, one of several Directors in the company that owns the building told SEARCHLIGHT this was not the case.

The stalls of vendors, who operated just outside the Massy compound at Arnos Vale were demolished, and their produce seized by police in the early hours of Monday morning.

This action comes almost two years after the Physical Planning and Development Board issued letters to vendors in July 2020, asking that they remove their structures or risk having them demolished.

Vendors had protested the action in 2020, saying they had nowhere to go, and some enlisted the help of Bacchus-Baptiste who filed an appeal which was served to the Board.

Bacchus-Baptiste, who hosted a press conference on Wednesday to ventilate the issue said that appeal is still pending.

“We are still a country of laws and if the police and Physical Planning, who must be aware that there are appeals pending that have not been disposed of, and they think that they could just go and remove the structures of the vendors at Arnos Vale, then we will have to show them that we are a country of laws and they must be held to account,” the lawyer said.

“As far as I’m concerned, not only are they in breach of the Town and Country Planning Act, but they have committed acts of trespass to the goods of these people and they should be sued for conversion and detinue because even if they wanted to remove the structures there as they say, why was it necessary to do it in the wee hours of the morning and to confiscate all the produce?”

Bacchus-Baptiste said five vendors approached her formally in 2020 after being served with the Board’s letter on July 9, that year.

She said her appeal was served to the Board on July 13, 2020 but to date, there has been no response regarding the matter, which means that the appeals have not been heard.

The grounds for appeal, as outlined by the lawyer, note that, “no enforcement notice was served…; even if notice was served on February 23, 2018 as wrongfully stated, it is illegal and void and of no effect, not being served within a period of five years as mandated by law; the notice was not served in accordance with any specified provision of the relevant act…; the letter served on the 9th of July 2020 is discriminatory and motivated by political malice and spite and contravenes the Constitution of St Vincent and the Grenadines; the Board is put to strict proof of service of the alleged enforcement order according to law; and the notices are in contravention of Section 8 of the Act (Town and Country Planning Act)”.

Bacchus-Baptiste told the media she was addressing the matter wearing three hats: as a social activist, the New Democratic Party’s (NDP) representative for West St George and as a lawyer.

She confirmed that the intention is to take legal steps to defend the rights of the vendors who claim thousands of dollars in losses due to the seizure and demolition of their stalls.

She added, however, that she is approaching the situation first and foremost as a social activist because, “we can no longer sit back and allow our government to think that they can

do as they like. They are well aware that it is wrong but they don’t care…” The lawyer noted that by law, if an enforcement order is to be served, it must be done within a five-year period.

There is said to be no fewer than 20 vendors occupying the area directly outside of the Massy compound.

And several are said to have been vending in that spot for more than six years; some as many as a decade.

Bacchus-Baptiste, who described Monday’s operation as “wicked” and “illegal”, said no actions were taken to move the vendors within the last two years and questioned the sudden decision to have the stalls removed.

In addition to calling on the government to take the necessary steps to rectify the situation, Bacchus-Baptiste also called on the building’s management to contact her, so as to arrange compensation for vendors.

“I am told that Massy Ltd had a meeting with some of the vendors about three weeks or so ago and the management, which is a new management, some St Lucian guy I am told, according to them (vendors), he wanted them to remove their things or he would make some sort of arrangements for them,” she said. “That was what was discussed in the meeting and that he would get back to them. That is about three weeks ago. Suddenly, without warning, like a thief in the night, they came, the government and removed all the structures…” The lawyer also said one vendor had a meeting with management and was allegedly told that, “Massy has bills to pay and a bank loan to meet, and they are blocking the way to customers or preventing customers from coming in there because they are selling competitive items”.

SEARCHLIGHT contacted businessman, Goddard Darcheville on Thursday evening, who confirmed that he is a director of the company which now owns the building.

Darcheville told SEARCHLIGHT he was not aware that the vendors in the vicinity of Massy at Arnos Vale had been removed as he has been in the United States for the past two weeks.

The businessman also said that he did have a meeting about a month ago with about eight vendors who were plying their trade between the Massy and KFC buildings.

“In fact, I never spoke to anybody on the street. There were about seven persons plying their trade there and I indicated to them that I am the new owner of the property, so I know nothing about persons on the street,” he said. “I indicated to them that I am the new owner of the property and that there are certain plans that we have for the property. I know nothing about plans to be made for them elsewhere. No such thing.”

Darcheville, who owns several properties in St Vincent and the Grenadines, told SEARCHLIGHT that he is a holder of a St Vincent and the Grenadines passport since 1995, “so if anything about me being a St Lucian, I see myself as a Vincentian”.

The businessman also operates several businesses in other Caribbean islands.

He stressed that the only conversation he had was with vendors on premises owned by the company, and that he did not know anything about this week’s operation to have the stalls of vendors removed.